I’m an English teacher. The main reason I became an English teacher is because of my love for language. I loved reading books as a child, and English was a large gateway hidden deep in the forest that allowed me to read far more stories than I could ever consume. Not to mention, Dutch isn’t … Continue reading Language Learning
Category: Off-Topic
Having the wrong mindset
Do you ever think to yourself: man this week sucks but if I can just power through to the weekend, then next week will be better.That way you can make it through the bad days while looking ahead at better days to come. In and of itself it's not a bad way to look at … Continue reading Having the wrong mindset
When sleep evades you
A big focus of my blog throughout the years has been the state of my mental health. It’s had its ups and downs and lately it’s been a little less stable than I would like it to be, but I feel like it’s slowly going on an upwards trajectory again. I was actually feeling pretty … Continue reading When sleep evades you
AI art and the industrial revolution
Today, I am teaching my students about AI and deep fakes. It’s actually part of the current chapter we’re working on that is about science & technology. Obviously these are children learning a basic amount of English so we won’t have a deep discussion about the ethics of AI art, but I do hope to … Continue reading AI art and the industrial revolution
My thoughts on the wizard game
When I was around ten or eleven years olds I found myself reading this book about a young wizard boy and his friends. I was immediately enthralled by the concept and eventually got so impatient that I learned English just so I could read the second book that had not been translated yet. I don’t … Continue reading My thoughts on the wizard game
Why aren’t there more superheroes?
This past weekend, popular youtuber and regular philanthropist MrBeast dropped this video. In this video, MrBeast and his team help 1000 people by financing a small operation that drastically improves their sight. This is a 10 minute procedure that is more or less free (or very affordable) in modern countries like The Netherlands, where I … Continue reading Why aren’t there more superheroes?
The myth of high-functioning autism
There’s a term people have been throwing around for a very long time. High functioning Autism. The idea behind this term is that the people who fall in this category are on the autism spectrum but are still able to function in modern day society like everyone else. There is a truth to this term … Continue reading The myth of high-functioning autism
The ship of Theseus
There are a lot of things we can learn from history. The people who lived before us were sometimes pretty clever and thought of things that seemed way ahead of their time. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I should have paid more attention during history class. But seeing how riddled with boring material a … Continue reading The ship of Theseus
The audacity of charity
Alright, I’ll be honest. I’ve had this topic lined up for a very long time now. More than half a year. I’m unsure why it’s taken me so long to actually sit down and write about it. Maybe it’s because it was such a big part of fueling my hatred for rampant capitalism. It’s no … Continue reading The audacity of charity
2023 New Year’s Resolutions
Out of every year that I’ve been alive, 2022 was certainly one of them. We saw the end of covid in our collective capability to simply stop caring about it. The queen died, that’s pretty big. Not our queen, she’s still doing fine as far as I’m aware. I went back to teaching this year … Continue reading 2023 New Year’s Resolutions